Falk Gastro Info 6/2025

Hirten RP et al, Gastroenterology. 2025;168(5):939-951.e5

Wearable devices to identify and predict flares of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD): Longitudinally collected physiological metrics from standard wearable devices such as heart rate, heart rate variability or resting heart rate as well as mobility identify IBD flares, even several weeks prior to the flare, suggesting their feasibility to monitor and predict IBD activity.

ACCURE Study Group, Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2025;10(6):550-561

Appendectomy promotes maintenance of remission in ulcerative colitis: In a randomized trial including patients with ulcerative colitis in remission, a combination of appendectomy plus medical maintenance therapy resulted in a significantly lower frequency of disease flares within 1 year as compared to maintenance therapy alone.

Burke L et al, J Hepatol. 2025;82(4):615-621

Therapeutic plasma exchange improves hemodynamics in patients with acute liver failure, but not overall survival: A study from the United Kingdom retrospectively examined data from 378 patients with acute liver failure (229 of which were paracetamol-induced), of whom 120 received plasma exchange therapy. Although no significant effect on overall survival was documented, some positive effects were observed, thus warranting further studies, including to identify potential etiology-specific effects.

Liu Y et al, J Hepatol. 2025;82(5):826-835

A newly described genetic mutation in East Asia is associated with risk for cholestasis of pregnancy and protection against hepatitis B infection: This genome-wide association study from China with nearly 100,000 pregnant women identified risk mutations for elevated bile acids and cholestasis of pregnancy. One mutation is located in the NTCP gene, which encodes a bile acid transporter through which hepatitis B viruses (HBV) infect hepatocytes. This mutation confers protection from HBV infection, thus leading to the increased prevalence of this protective mutation in East Asia.

GBD 2021 Adult BMI Collaborators, Lancet. 2025;405(10481):813-838

Dramatic increase in obesity worldwide: According to this systematic evaluation of the epidemiology of obesity, its prevalence has increased by 155% in men and 105% in women worldwide since 1990. If these trends continue, 3.8 billion people are expected to be overweight or obese by 2050, which corresponds to more than half of the projected population and is likely to have a significant impact on the healthcare system.

Colombel JF et al, Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2025;23(6):1019-1029

Upadacitinib for fistulizing Crohn’s disease: Post-hoc analysis of the upadacitinib phase 3 trials revealed that patients with fistulizing disease (primarily perianal) treated with upadacitinib achieved higher rates of resolution of drainage, closure of external openings, clinical remission, and endoscopic response versus placebo.